It has been quite some time since a parent has written a first-hand story about their child with childhood-onset severe mental illness such as bipolar and schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. This is a thrilling story and educational at the same time.

I am not one for writing book reviews, so here is the link to the reviews for Jeanie Wolfson's new book "It's Not Mental":
BOOK REVIEWS


And here are some excerpts that reflect the sentiments of myself and family:

"I couldn't put it down. I cried. I laughed..."

"...moving narrative interspersed with factual material. The narrative alone is worthy of a screenplay for its dramatic impact."

"The author adeptly interweaves educational material she learned along the way right into the story line. It is well-researched with collaborative input from doctors as well as lived experiences."

"So many families can relate to this story of a child with an increasingly long list of psychiatric diagnoses. I love the story line and how the child learned to cope with the residual hallucinations. Using other people and pets as reality checks showed such insight!"

"As a founder of the Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (CABF), I am so very impressed by Jeanie's constant searching for the missing piece(s) to help her daughter. . . . --you are the first-line observer of your child and your observations are critical--if properly recorded). Jeanie's and Keri's story in this book will save parents a lot of time..."

There is also the It's Not Mental blogspot in English, http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/ and in Spanish http://noesmental.blogspot.com/